The Sorcerer and the Snake
by JaneDoeEye
Summary: It's Lily Evans and James Potter's second year at Hogwarts. Suspicious things are happening outside the castle walls and the children must work together to stop the dark creeping in.
1. Chapter 1

1 - Back on the Hogwarts Express

Lily

The crowded platform of 9 3/4 was sweltering in the last of the summer sun and the smoke from the gleaming scarlet train. Parents were ushering their children on to the steam engine with their luggage, telling them to be good, threatening them to write.

Lily Evans was one such child being smothered by her mother and father as they bundled her off to school. Her sister had refused to come to see her to the platform this year.

"Have a wonderful year, darling!" Her mum said to her for the seventh time.

"Come back with lots of magic," her father said to her, his face serious before grinning.

"Da-ad," Lily said merrily, "I've told you, they don't put more magic in to us, they just teach us how to use it."

"Stop teasing her David," Lily's mum said, as her dad tipped her an enormous wink, his green eyes gleaming.

The train hooted a warning. Children were being pushed on the train, terrified first years were clinging to their parents, their eyes glistening with tears.

Up the platform, Lily saw some of her classmates jumping aboard. She gave her parents one last hug, told them she loved them and ran to meet Mary, dragging her trunk behind her.

"Oh Lily, thank goodness." Mary exclaimed as the two of them hauled their luggage on board. "I haven't found anyone else, I was worried I was going to be alone on the train."

"I hope Marlene's not late." Lily sighed The went inside the nearest empty compartment.

"I haven't seen any other second years in our house!" Mary told her, looking anxiously out of the window on to the platform. Lily joined her. There were still plenty of people climbing aboard. She waved to her own mother and father, her mother's dark red hair stood out in any crowd. Lily's eyes scanned round, she saw a family of dark haired wizard's with stiffly ironed black robes and high cheekbones watching their young son board the train, while their younger son, the image of his brother watched on mesmerised. To their right, another family of wizards, with greying dark hair were seeing their young son off. Kissing him and pointing their finger warningly. The family to the left looked upon them with polite disdain. A second later, Potter and Black waltzed past Lily's compartment.

The train began to move, arms clawed out the window, shouts were drowned by the noise of the train, they picked up speed, losing the platform, rounding the corner and begun their journey.

Lily sat back in her seat grinning but Mary was still biting her nails. "I'm sure Marlene's made it, Mary." Lily said bracingly.

Mary didn't look comforted. "What if something's happened?"

"Like what?" Lily asked blankly.

"Something bad," she continued biting her nails. "All those disappearances that were in the paper, and the murder in Oxford of the muggle family, my mum and dad are really worried."

Lily didn't know any of this had happened. The only newspaper her mum and dad read was the times, and no magic would be reported in that.

"Marlene's family work at the Ministry, don't they?" Lily asked, more discomforted by the news than she wanted to let on.

"Umm." Mary nodded, stilling gnawing on her nails. "Her mum and dad both work in the department of magical law enforcement, so I was just nervous that -"

But Lily never heard what Mary was so nervous about because at that moment, Marlene trundled in. Her wild curly blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail and she was wearing a pair of flared jeans under her bright, daisy patterned robes.

"I've been looking for you two everywhere!" Marlene sighed happily. Mary had attacked her with a hug before Marlene could even put her trunk on the luggage rack. "I was so worried!"

Marlene looked over Mary to Lily, who shrugged, bemused.

"Did you have good summers?" Marlene asked them both briskly after Mary had let her go.

"It was alright, good actually," Mary said absently. "Better than Lily's."

Marlene grimaced at her. "Is your sister still not speaking to you?"

Lily had been writing to her friends weekly, so they were all quite up to date on each other's lives. Petunia was ignoring her sister whenever their parents weren't around and Lily couldn't stand it. She thought Petunia would have missed her while she was away and their petty disagreements would be settled but if anything Lily's first year at Hogwarts had made her colder and more distant.

"No but it's alright." Lily sounded much brighter than she felt. "Mum says she'll come around."

"I wish my brother wouldn't speak to me." Marlene sighed. "He's captain of the quidditch team this year so he's going to be even more unbearable."

Mary blushed. The girls knew too well that she had a big crush on Marlene's brother Philius, a fifth year who did not know her name.

"A lot of the quidditch team left last year, didn't they?" Mary said, careful not to sound too interested.

"Quite a few," Marlene agreed. "Not interested in trying out are you?"

"Merlin no!" Mary said immediately.

"Shame," Marlene said sadly. "I want to try, not that I expect Phil will pick me."

"I don't know," Lily said doubtfully. "If you're good he will, no one wants Slytherin to win again."

Marlene winced at the memory of the snake's victory the previous school year. "That was a painful final."

The quidditch talk faded away into idle gossip. The talk of murders and disappearances spoken of no more.

* * *

James

James and Sirius trudged far along the train to find an empty compartment. James was buoyant with energy, excited to be going back to school where he could learn new spells and fly around the grounds. His new broomstick was slung over his back, he was determined to get a spot on the quidditch team this year.

Sirius, on the other hand, looked miserable. His summer had been very fraught. Sirius knew his family weren't thrilled that he'd been sorted into Gryffindor but he hadn't expected how much that would change things for him until he spent two months in their company, or so he told James. And to make matters worse, his favourite cousin had left home to marry a muggle. The family were in uproar, they'd disowned her and forbidden her name to be spoken in the house. Sirius's summer had been so miserable, in the end he kicked up such a fuss, that his parents gladly sent him packing to the Potters' house for a week.

James's parents had been wary when he told them about his best friend. His parents were well acquainted with the Blacks and while they were not openly hostile, the two families did not see eye to eye. However, they opened their homes to Sirius with open minds and James was grateful to them. Grateful that Sirius had someone to go when things at home became too much.

"Sirius, I've found Peter." James said happily, sliding the compartment door open and decanting his luggage on to the rack.

Sirius sloped in moodily behind him. James and Peter spent the better part of the train journey playing exploding snap while Sirius stared moodily out the window. James knew better than to tell him to cheer up, he knew he'd feel better as soon as London was far, far behind them.

The corridors were very busy. The food trolley came and went. Prefects patrolled the corridors, including Sirius's other cousin Narcissa, the new female prefect of Slytherin house. She tried to make eye contact with him but he abjectly refused. The new Gryffindor prefects Frank Longbottom and Alice Woods popped their heads in the compartment to make sure James and Sirius weren't causing too much havoc.

"Where's the rest of you?" Frank asked mildly.

"Remus is sick." James asked instantly, glancing up from his game. "His parents will send him along in a few days."

Alice frowned, leaning against the compartment window. "Remus is sick a lot isn't he? Is he under the care of any one at St Mungos?" She asked shrewdly.

"I don't know," James was purposely vague, glancing back to Peter as if the matter was of little consequence to him. "I'm really not sure. He's very sensitive about being ill, doesn't like attention being drawn to it."

"Bless him," Alice said genuinely. "Well hopefully he'll be along soon." She turned to leave the compartment, gently tugging on Frank's arm.

"Behave," Frank told them sternly, pointing his finger. "No duelling in the corridor."

James saw them off with a wave but Sirius, who was still brooding out the window hadn't cracked a smile.

Peter made the mistake of asking him what was wrong and James just managed to intercept before Sirius bit his head off.

"There's a lot going on Pete." James said easily.

"Bad stuff's happening." Sirius muttered darkly, slumping further down in his seat.

James instantly changed the subject and Peter remained mystified but asked no more about it.

They went back to their card game, James winning 10-2 by the time it started to get dark outside.

"We should start getting our robes on." Sirius said dully. "We'll be there soon."

"Excellent!" James enthused popping open his trunk. "I'm starving, and I bet you're hungry too Pete?"

"How did you know that?" Peter asked, his eyes round in wonder.

"Lucky guess." James caught Sirius's eye and thought for a moment he saw him smile.

The boys bundled on their robes and watched out of the window eagerly as the station came into view. They departed from the train, waving to Hagrid rounding up the terrified first years so they could sail across the black lake.

They followed the masses of students in their black robes and hats along the platform.

"Cool!" Peter cooed at the horseless carriages waiting to take them up to school.

They formed a queue behind some sixth year Ravenclaws and waited their turn. James was merrily looking forward to his dinner when a carriage zoomed past him containing three girls and a boy. His stomach performed it's usual backflips at the sight of Lily Evans and he grimaced at slimy Snivellus Snape sat with her. He would never understand how they were friends.

* * *

Lily

When the arrived in the magnificent entrance hall, Severus and Lily parted company. He stalked ahead to find his fellow Slytherins. Marlene and Mary hadn't said a word about Severus being in their carriage, they didn't need to, the set line of their mouths made their feelings perfectly plain. Lily paid them no heed, they didn't know Severus the way she did, it didn't matter that they were in Gryffindor and he was in Slytherin.

She resolved that she would talk to them later, there was no reason for her friends' disapproval. But Lily's resolve faded almost instantly as she entered the great hall. Her stomach filled with bubbles of happiness, she was really back here.

Lily followed Marlene along the stone floor and they found seats along at the Gryffindor table next to some fourth year boys.

Marlene's brother and his friends sat on their right hand side. Mary blushed furiously, while trying to keep her eyes firmly on her plate, however they betrayed her a few seconds in when she snuck a look at Philius McKinnon.

"Hope it's a good crop this year." He said to his nearest friend.

"My brother is coming up," a fifth year boy replied. "If he's in Gryffindor, he's a good quidditch player, Phil."

Philius nodded solemnly. "I'll need some of those."

"Like me?" Marlene interrupted and her brother snorted. "What?" She said affronted. "You let me play with you in the school holidays!"

Philius shook his head, smiling. "Marls, you're not very good. And you're even worse at taking constructive criticism."

Marlene's mouth made an O of distinct horror. "I am not!"

Lily caught Mary's eye and smiled at her empty plate . Benches were filling up all around them, Karen and Guinievere, the other second year girls were a few seats up the table. Lily gave them a cheery wave until she noticed they were sitting next to Potter, Black and Pettigrew. She quickly withdrew her hand a placed it on her knee. Potter was staring avidly, but it appeared that he was staring at Marlene's brother, rather than Lily.

Mary had followed Lily's line of sight and frowned. "Where's Remus?" She whispered to Lily.

Lily hadn't immediately noticed his absence and her eyes scanned back over to the boys. This time Potter tried to catch her eye, she ignored him.

"I don't know." Lily replied honestly, copying Mary's frown.

"Do you think something bad's happened?" Mary was worrying again.

"No." Lily said firmly. "Remus was ill last year, maybe he's not very well."

"Yeah maybe," Mary fiddled with her brown hair, unconvinced. "I'll ask James in the common room."

Lily's frown deepened. Mary would not speak to Severus but she had no problem speaking to James Potter, a boy so arrogant that he made Lily's skin crawl.

Her mind wandered to Remus, the only Gryffindor boy in her year and house that she liked. What was wrong with him that he missed so much school? Although she did not approve of Mary speaking to Potter, she was curious as to what she'd find.

Marlene and her brother were still arguing. All around the hall was the buzz of excited conversation, everyone catching up after the holidays. Even the teachers at the top table were chatting to one another happily. The noise died the instant the double doors opened and McGonagall strode down the hall, followed by the forty or so new students joining the school that year.

At the end of the hall she placed a tattered old hat on a footstool. Tension in the hall rose to an excited peak, Lily and Mary grinned at each other. It was time for the sorting to begin. The hat began to twitch and move, it coughed a few times and finally, burst into song.

 _When Hogwarts founders four,_

 _Did open this school's door_

 _To their own had each,_

 _What they most valued to teach._

 _To boldness and courage_

 _Gryffindor did encourage_

 _To great self ambition_

 _Did Slytherin give permission._

 _To studiousness and wit_

 _Did Ravenclaw do her bit_

 _And to honesty and to love_

 _Did Hufflepuff value all else above._

 _Yet what they did not know_

 _Is where the tensions grow._

 _For dividing the peers,_

 _All ended in tears,_

 _Where the firmest of friends,_

 _Met the bitterest of ends._

 _While your houses are where it starts_

 _I fear that when we part,_

 _We'll learn to forget_

 _The united front we met,_

 _Before we were sorted_

 _And our loyalties distorted._

 _Together we remain strong_

 _But I'll put you where you belong._

 _Let me give you a label_

 _So I can seat you at your table_

 _But beware in your labour_

 _To remember your neighbour_

 _For once we are split_

 _That doesn't have to be it._

 _Hogwarts as a school_

 _Will give you the tool_

 _To see friend from foe_

 _So to the sorting we go._

The students clapped along, slowly at first as they frowned at their neighbours. "That was odd." Lily heard Phil McKinnon, mutter to his friend. "Normally the hat just goes on about the qualities of the houses."

Lily thought hard as she watched the first student take their seat on the stool, the hat drooping over their eyes. She replayed as much as she could remember of the hat's song in her mind, it sounded to her as though this year, he did not want to sort them all in to houses. She thought about her friends and Severus, over on the Slytherin table, the hat was right, being put in different houses did distort loyalties.

When Yaxley, Dexter was sorted into Slytherin house, McGonagall cleared the hat away and Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts, now let dinner be served!"

The students cheered heartily as the golden plates filled with mouth watering food. All warnings the sorting hat had presented them with vanished as soon as the started biting into their dinner and drinking their pumpkin juice.

Lily was ravenous, she filled her plate with a little bit of a variety of cuisines, each one tasting better than the last. When she thought she couldn't eat anymore, dinner vanished and was replaced by dessert. Lily helped her self to a chocolate fondant and a slice of treacle tart which she bathed in thick, yellow custard.

"Could I have the tart please?" Said a voice from behind her. Lily turned round, it was James Potter. Wordlessly, she handed over the plate to him. She felt him hover for a moment behind her before walking back to her seat. Mary shot her a pained expression but didn't say anything.

When no one could possibly eat another bite, the tables cleared. All eyes darted to the top table to hear Dumbledore speak once more.

"To a new year! I know you are all tired and content so let me not keep you too long from your warm beds. To our new students, remember that the forbidden forest is out of bounds and magic in the corridors is not permitted. To our returning students, I would like to reinforce that message." His eyes twinkled. "Mr Filch has asked me to remind you that the following items purchased from Zonkos joke shop are forbidden," Dumbledore held up a long piece of parchment loftily. "If you would like to review this for yourself, please visit Mr Filch's office. I have a new member of staff to announce, Professor Floyd, who will be taking over from Professor Greenacre as our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was a polite round of applause, but the students were looking at each other nonplussed. They had not know Professor Greenacre was leaving, she was too young for retirement. They sized up the new wizard, who stood up and bowed humbly. He had curly dark hair and a fine moustache. He reminded Lily of Captain Hook from the children's story Peter Pan.

"Now, the hour is late and our bellies are full. I bid you goodnight."

The benches scraped against the floor as they were dismissed. Mary, Marlene and Lily dawdled behind so Gwen and Karen could catch up. The two giggling girls caught their classmates, and Karen immediately went in to the rumour she'd heard from her cousin Bertha.

"Apparently Greenacre had a nervous breakdown," Karen whispered in their ears, her strong lancashire accent. "She couldn't take anymore of the students misbehaving, and Potter and Black's stinging quill at the end of last year was the final straw."

"Arthur says it had nothing to do with that," Gwen disagreed. She put a loose strand of golden hair behind her ears. "He told me that Greenacre left because she was threatened."

"Threatened?" Marlene rolled her eyes. "You can't believe everything Arthur Pendragon says Gwen." They were the last few left in the hall.

"Who would have threatened Greenacre?" Mary asked in worried tones.

They all shrugged and looked at Gwen. "Well, Arthur says," she shot a look at Marlene, "It was a wizard called Tom Riddle."

"Never heard of him." Marlene said dismissively.

Gwen shrugged at the rest of them, and the followed her out into the entrance hall.

The scene that met them there was not a pleasant one. James Potter and Severus Snape were stood a metre apart with their wands out, sparks flying and meeting in the middle. Finally, Potter hit his target and Snape's wand flew into the air, where it was caught by a waiting Sirius Black.

"Sorry, Snivellus." Black said nastily, pocketing his wand and striding to Potter's side.

Snape's pallid face turned red. He spluttered curses at them but wandless, he could do nothing.

The sight of Serverus so defenceless and Potter and Black smirking hit Lily like lightening. She reached into her pocket for her own wand but Marlene stopped her, grabbing her arm and pulling.

"Let go!" Lily told her but Marlene held on, indicating a tall, lofty figure walking down the steps three at a time.

"Potter!" The voice was angry and resigned. "What did I tell you about duelling in the corridors?"

Frank Longbottom snatched Snape's wand out of Sirius's hand and gave it back to it's owner. Snape glowered furiously at them, he did not thank Frank. He turned on his heel and left without Lily managing to make eye contact with him.

Frank turned to James and Sirius angrily.

"Well," he demanded. "What was that about?"

James caught the girls staring and smiled defiantly. "You said no duelling in the corridors, this is the entrance hall."

Sirius laughed appreciatively. Lily threw them both a disgusted look and strode past them up the stairs. She heard Frank's echoing voice giving them detention behind her.


	2. Chapter 2 - Wandlore

2 - Wandlore

James

Frank bellowed at James and Sirius all the way up to Gryffindor tower. He promised them McGonagall would hear about this first thing in the morning. He called it bullying. "Two on one." He fumed at them. "It's a disgrace to Godric Gryffindor. He was the defender of the people not the persecutor. It was a rotten thing to do!"

"He wasn't defenceless, Frank." Sirius said coolly. "Don't make the mistake of thinking Snivellus Snape is harmless because he looks so pathetic."

"Don't call him that!" Frank snapped at him, looking even more furious. They'd reached the Fat Lady who was eyeing them beadily.

"A week of detention for you Black. Potter, if you want to keep it to one night, I suggest you keep your mouth shut." He added as James started to make comment.

"You're going to apologise to Snape tomorrow," Frank told them seriously. James caught a glance at the Fat Lady who was ogling them, delighting in the drama. "And if I ever hear you call him Snivellus again, I'm going straight to Dumbledore. Understood?" Frank's mouth, normally smiling, was set in a straight, hard line. It reminded James of McGonagall.

James and Sirius didn't respond. They strode straight into the common room and up to the dormitory, shooting mutinous looks at Frank from the bottom of the stairs.

"Apologise!" Sirius barked incredulously, as soon as the dormitory door was shut.

"Apologise for what?" Peter asked, popping out of the red hangings of his four poster. He'd left the great hall in a hurry to go to the loo and was already in his striped pyjamas.

"We're not going to apologise." James told Sirius bracingly. He strode over to his trunk and began pulling out his own pyjamas, he would unpack properly tomorrow. "Frank's just showing off his new badge Sirius. He'll have calmed down in the morning."

"What happened?" Peter asked again, his watery blue eyes watching James and Sirius beadily.

"We had a disagreement with Snape." Sirius muttered, finally going to his own bed.

James didn't say anything. If that was all Sirius wanted to tell Peter, that was all he'd say on the subject but there was slightly more to the story.

When they had left the Great Hall, James and Sirius had collided with Severus Snape accidentally. Snape and James brushed off the contact from their robes and briefly glared at each other, before James smiled. "Good summer, Snivellus? I see you still haven't washed your hair."

Sirius gave a bark of laughter that spurred James on.

Snape glared at him, his face going pink. James saw him clutching his wand in the pocket of his robes.

"Shut up Potter." Snape snarled at him. He was twitchy, there weren't many people left in the entrance hall.

"Oooh," James and Sirius said together, laughing.

"I'm wounded." James told Sirius, grinning. "Now Snivelly has told me to shut up, I may never speak again Sirius."

"Well we wouldn't want to upset old Snivelly, would we James?" Sirius laughed back at him.

"Shut up the pair of you, especially you, the blood traitor!" Snape shot at Sirius who stopped laughing abruptly.

It was Snape's turn to sneer. "I heard all about it from Lucius Malfoy at dinner, how you're a disgrace to the Black family."

Sirius reached for his wand but Snape's was already in his hand. James distracted him but his hex missed by inches. Snape turned to face him, his face burning and just as James disarmed him, Frank Longbottom ran down the steps bawling at him.

Under the pressure of Frank staring at him, James adopted a swagger and made a joke. He saw Lily Evans and her friends pass him, shooting him disgusted glances. It wasn't fair, Snivellus had been just as vicious but only James and Sirius would pay for it.

James got in to bed miserably. The year had already gotten off to a bad start. He rolled over and brushed off the negativity, he'd change all that around. This would be a good year, he told himself determinedly. He was going to make the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, beat Sirius in the transfiguration final and make Lily Evans stop glaring at him. He would set to work as soon as he woke up in the morning.

* * *

True to his word, Frank Longbottom had indeed told McGonagall about the night's little duel. She marched James and Sirius out of the entrance hall at breakfast and deducted twenty points from Gryffindor. It did not make them popular in their first lesson with their peers. During Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Evans and Macdonald shot them annoyed glances and turned their backs on them, Karen and Gwen muttered contemptuously, James was sure the latter was cursing him in Welsh. Only McKinnon seemed unpeturbed. She partnered James in the lesson, when Sirius and Peter set to work on the other side of the greenhouse. "They're only house points," she muttered. "It's day one, I'm sure we'll all lose a few more."

James was glad Marlene felt this way because there was something he'd been dying to talk to her about. "I heard your brother's the new Quidditch Captain," he said with no preamble. "I thought it'd be him. I know Seeker's aren't the usual choice for captain but since Reacher left last year, he's the best player on the team."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "There's no use buttering me up, Potter." She told him drily. "If you want to try out for the team, just try out."

"When's he holding trials?" James asked, unpeturbed.

"Dunno." Marlene replied haughtily. She kept her eyes fixed on her potting her honking daffodil. "What position are you going for?"

"Chaser," James tried to be nonchalant but he was too eager. There were three spots open on the team. Keeper, Beater and Chaser, James supposed he could be a beater of a keeper if he put his mind to it, but he really wanted to be a Chaser, it was the most exciting position on the field. Marlene didn't say more and James wondered if she was thinking the same thing. They regarded each other coolly for the rest of the lesson, acknowledging each other as competition.

After Herbology, the Hufflepuffs trundled into the castle and up the stairs for Charms, while the Gryffindors made their way to the dungeon for Potions. Potions was one of James's least favourite lessons. It wasn't that he found it particularly taxing, it was easy enough work, although James didn't score as highly as he could have because he lacked the concentration needed for some of the trickier potions. The part is disliked most about Potions was the teacher.

Professor Slughorn was a large man with a big moustache and a bigger belly. Everything about the man was loud, from his voice to his character. It was also the worst kept secret in the school that Slughorn had his favourites and that Slughorn's favourites went to high places when they left school. Sirius had been the first to tell James that if you were ambitious, you wanted to make Slughorn your ally. James had been very keen for Slughorn to like him. He hadn't ever willed someone to like him before, people just did. Yet, for some reason (most likely James's perpetual habit of getting in to trouble), Slughorn did not like him. Now he was in his second year, James was not as bothered about this. But even as he unpacked his potion ingredients on the table, Slughorn irked him.

With a wave of his wand, Slughorn made instructions appeared on the blackboard. "Today we will be making a handy little potion called, the Rhinopharyngitical draft, can anyone tell me what this potion does?"

A few hands shot in the air, among them was Snape and Lily. James's hands stayed firmly on the table. He hadn't yet opened his potions textbook this academic year.

"Mr Snape?" Slughorn said happily.

"It's a potion to cure the common cold." Snape said quietly, beside him Lily beamed. James ground his teeth.

"Excellent, excellent." Slughorn said happily. "That's correct, five points to Slytherin. For a little fun, does anyone know what this potion's nickname is?"

This time James did put his hand up, as did everyone except Karen Smith, Lily Evans and Sirius, although the latter was just being lazy. Slughorn sensed this too because it was Sirius he asked the question to.

"It's called the Wizard's wonder." Sirius said dully.

"That's right," Slughorn turned back to the class without awarding Sirius any points. "Now, this is slightly more complicated than anything we've attempted so far. Read the instructions carefully and raise your hand if you need any help." He cast his gaze round the greenish glow of the class. "Begin."

It was laborious work and James soon found his attention wandering. He gazed and Snape and Lily for ten minutes, they worked together harmoniously, talking quietly, their attention firmly on their potions. A few times, James caught the other Gryffindor girls giving Lily funny looks and he didn't have to wonder why.

Twice Sirius caught his arm. Once to stop him adding the wrong ingredient and once to stop his sleeve catching fire from the flames that were kindled under the cauldron.

James attention moved on to daydreams about Quidditch. He couldn't wait for the school day to be over so he could check the notice board and see when trials were being held. He thought about asking Sirius to practice with him in the evening before remembering that they both had detention with McGonagall.

"Your potions should all be a transparent yellow, with pink steam rising from them," Slughorn boomed at the end of the lesson.

James looked in his own cauldron. It was a completely opaque canary yellow with red smoke issuing from it. Peter's was blood orange with purple steam and red sparks, while Sirius's was precisely the colour Slughorn described. Slughorn walked round the room to inspect their potions. He gushed over Snape and Lily's tables, passed without comment over the girls, frowned at Mulciber's cauldron, in which the contents had turned solid and shrivelled into a pumpkin shape. He nodded approvingly at Sirius's and tutted at James.

James, Peter and Muliciber were given extra homework to research the corrective actions to be performed on their potions, to be demonstrated next lesson.

James followed Sirius out of the dungeon feeling dismal. His hopeful feelings waning further by the minute.

The rest of the day did not improve. The announcements for Gryffindor trials still had not been posted, they had a stack of complicated homework and spent an hour writing lines in McGonagall's office. When Sirius and James trudged back up the marble staircase to the common room, contemplating the homework they needed to begin it was hard to say who felt more dispirited.

"We might as well start with McGonagall's reading." Sirius sighed as they reached the Fat Lady. "It'll take the longest."

"Yeah," James agreed in equally as enthused tones. "Toadspawn." He said to the Fat Lady, who swung open without reprimanding them for coming back from detention. James climbed into the portrait hole first. The common room was still full, students were talking, playing games or completing homework. Sirius and James found chairs by the wooden table on the left and took their books out of their bags and began reading. James looked up after three minutes and found Sirius doing the same, they grinned at each other. Frank Longbottom swept past them, eyeing them carefully before leaving the portrait hole with his girlfriend Alice. "As if they're really doing prefect duty," Sirius muttered quietly to James, turning his attention back to his transfiguration book.

Before the door closed however someone else entered. James burst into a grin and nudged Sirius. Remus had arrived.

* * *

Lily

Tuesday was the same frantic hassle to get ready that Lily remembered from the year before. The girls were all sorting out their hair right up until the last second in which they would have to go or face missing breakfast. This year, Gwen and Karen were starting to apply make up in the mornings too.

"Madness," Marlene said to Lily as they left the other two to it and begun walking down the stone steps which led into the common room. "I'd rather have another two minutes in bed."

"I dunno," Mary said quietly from behind Lily, "I saw that Dorcas Meadows and a few other Ravenclaw girls were wearing makeup in lessons. Maybe we're the odd ones out."

"If you want to use Karen and Gwen's magnifying magical mascara go right ahead, Lily and I will be at breakfast." Marlene replied haughtily, striding across the common room to the portrait hole.

Lily shot Mary an apologetic look behind her. She didn't know what was wrong with Marlene but she was in a towering temper. She'd been grumpy ever since Herbology the previous morning. Lily had tried to ask her if she was alright over dinner but had had her head bitten off. So now, she was just leaving her to it.

The three girls walked down the long corridors to breakfast in near silence. When the entered the Great Hall, Lily was pleasantly surprised to see Remus Lupin sat at the Gryffindor table in-between Potter and Black. Lily caught his eye and gave him a pleasant wave which he returned cheerily.

Marlene decided to sit much further up the table than the boys which Lily immediately found odd. Normally, she'd have been straight over there. Mary also frowned at the seating arrangements but did not question it.

"First DADA lesson with the new Professor today," Mary announced after a long ten minutes of silently eating their breakfast. "Wonder if he'll be any good."

"He will be." Lily said confidently. "Can't imagine Dumbledore would hire any one that wasn't."

"Binns?" Mary suggested.

"I don't think Dumbledore hired him, so much as inherited him." Lily chuckled, thinking of their very dull History of Magic teacher, the ghost.

"My mum said that now we've learnt the basics, we'll start learning more complicated spells this year." Mary said, more for Lily's benefit than Marlene's.

"Like what?" Lily asked, scooping another spoonful of cereal.

"Disarming," Mary listed on her fingers, "shield charms, maybe even stunning."

Lily's eyes widened in excitement but Marlene scoffed. She put her cup of coffee down with a thud. "We won't learn shield charms or stunning until forth year at _least_." She said scornfully.

"What about disarming?" Lily asked irritably, Marlene's attitude irking her more and more.

Marlene shrugged. "I guess we will learn _that_."

"James can already do it." Mary said quietly, clearly not wanting Marlene to kick off again.

"What?" Lily and Marlene both asked.

"He disarmed Sn- I mean - he disarmed Severus after the feast on the first night." Mary reddened with Marlene and Lily both looking at her incredulously.

Lily replayed the scene of the first night in her head. She thought Potter had been attacking Severus when really he had been disarming him. Did that mean Potter was defending himself? No. She told herself firmly, he definitely raised his wand again when Black had pocketed Severus's, if Frank hadn't come downstairs he definitely would have hexed him ...

Marlene scoffed again. "Lucky shot." She huffed at Mary. "Anyone could have done that."

Mary's brow creased in response but she didn't contradict her. Lily was quite happy when the bell had rung and they were able to go up to Defence Against the Dark Arts where Marlene couldn't snap at them.

Professor Floyd started the class in an unusual manner. When they arrived in his classroom and began sitting down he ushered them up again.

"Back of the class please, all of you." He said, shooing them with his hands. He wore blood red robes and a very square hat, which made him look like a bishop.

"I'm going to sort you into alphabetical order so I can learn your names properly," he told them. With a wave of his wand a long piece of parchment appeared in his hands. "Andrews, Julius?" He called commandingly. A quiet Ravenclaw boy stepped forward and Floyd pointed to a desk at the front. As Andrews walked, Floyd turned back to his list. "Black, Sirius." The class frowned, they'd never been forced to mix with other houses in their seating before. Other than a mild frown, Sirius went to join Andrews without complaint. Dennis Carmichael of Ravenclaw was paired with Guinevere Davies of Gryffindor. Lily and Remus were the first of the same house to be paired together. They sat on the last desk on the right, straight at the front. Some Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were pared together, like Dorcas Meadows and Felicity Nightingale, both of Ravenclaw, and of Gryffindor, Potter and Pettigrew and, much to Mary's frustration, as she told Lily later, Mary and Marlene were stuck together. When Upton Rachel and Umber Edward, both of Ravenclaw, had finally been seated at the back, Professor Floyd swept forwards to begin his lesson.

Students scrambled in their bags for their books but he told them to put them all away. "You will only need your wands today." His voice was very soft and he had traces of a faint accent, definitely foreign, but it was such a lilt that Lily couldn't place it.

Mary had been right, their first lesson was disarming. Floyd wrote down the incantation and described the wand movement on the board. Lily found this odd too, most teachers only waved their wand at the board for the writing to appear but Floyd made a point of painfully etching each word.

"Now class," he said to them, gripping his wand tightly in his left hand. "Please recite the incantation."

" _Expelliarmus!"_ They all exclaimed, their wands sitting on their tables, visibly irritated.

"Very good." He said with an approving nod, but no smile. "Now, who can tell me what happens when you disarm your opponent?"

A few people in the class laughed, James Potter was chief among them Lily noticed. So did Professor Floyd. "Mr ..." he scanned his list. "Potter, since you seem to find the question so amusing, why don't you answer it."

"Ok," James said languidly, leaning back in his seat and rumpling his untidy hair. "When you disarm your opponent their wand flies out their hand." James was grinning, so were other people. Lily could read the speech bubbles above their heads, what a silly teacher, everyone knows what happens when you disarm someone ...

"And what else happens?" Floyd asked, his voice, though not unkind, was not indulgent. James Potter stopped smiling.

"Pardon?" He asked blankly.

"What else happens when you disarm someone?" Professor Floyd asked plainly.

Potter's face was blank, Lily could see he was scrabbling for more information. His eyes darting to his classmates for assistance but none was forthcoming. "I don't know." He was finally forced to say.

It was the first time that morning Professor Floyd had smiled. Lily expected him to say something patronising, but he did no such thing. Instead, he opened the question to the rest of the class. "Two things happen when you successfully disarm your opponent." He said, pacing along the far side of the wall where light was streaming in from the windows. "They happen simultaneously. As Mr Potter correctly informed us, the wand flies out their hand, so what is the second thing?"

Lily hadn't got a clue. She glanced at Remus who shrugged, also perplexed. It seemed no-one could answer Floyd's question, so finally, he answered it himself. "When you successfully disarm your opponent, their wand leaves their hand and also," he paused, his eyes glittering. "Their wand switches allegiance." The class were mesmerised, each glancing at their own wands.

"Wands don't have feelings," Pettigrew said loudly. He held his own wand aloft and then held it to his ear, as though he expected it to start speaking to him.

Floyd smiled again. "Is that so, Mr Pettigrew?" He consulted his sheet again for Peter's name. "In that case, please can you tell me why you picked your wand?"

"Why I picked it?" Pettigrew repeated, his round face furrowing in confusion.

"Yes." Floyd answered simply. He'd stopped pacing and walked back to his desk, leaning lightly against it. "How did you pick your own wand? Did you have a preference of dragon heartstring or unicorn hair? Had you heard that a longer wand performs charm work better than a shorter one? In short, Mr Pettigrew, what qualities were you looking for when you went to buy your wand?"

Peter Pettigrew's face was a complete blank. Floyd may as well have asked him to make him a wand as answer his question, for he was so perplexed he seemed lost for words.

"I don't know." He said finally.

"Then how did you pick your wand?" Floyd asked more simply. Gently folding his arms across his chest.

"I didn't. My wand picked me."

Floyd smiled again. "But I thought they didn't have feelings Mr Pettigrew?"

Peter didn't replied but he looked more and more confused.

"Pick up your wand, Mr Pettigrew." Floyd instructed him. Lily wondered for a wild moment whether he was going to duel him but Floyd left his own wand on his desk. The class's eyes turned to Peter who did as he was told. "How does it feel?"

Peter, clearly uncomfortable with the class's full attention, began to turn pink. "S'alright." He muttered.

"Now, put it down please and pick up Mr Potter's, if you don't mind."

James shrugged to say he didn't and Peter picked it up. His brow creased immediately.

"How does that feel?"

The class were hanging on for Peter's answer and it took him a long moment to reply. "Odd." He said finally. "Not quite right."

Floyd smiled again. He stopped torturing Peter who dropped James's wand immediately and scooped up his own. James picked up his fallen wand and twirled it around in his hands with interest.

Lily was fascinated. She picked up her own wand and stroked the wooden grooves. She put down her wand and picked up her quill and for the first time, she felt a subtle difference between holding each of the objects.

"Wandlore is a peculiar area of magic, one I am particularly interested in." Floyd told them, twirling his wand in his fingers. "I think it's important to know the foundations of magic before performing the spells. You see, while any witch or wizard can channel magic through most wands, the allegiance of the wand will determine how well the spell will work."

Mary raised her hand and Floyd checked his register. "Yes Miss Macdonald?"

"So does that mean that your friend's wand will work better for you than your enemy's? If you haven't disarmed your enemy, that is."

"An interesting question," Floyd said thoughtfully, stroking his moustache lightly. "It's not quite as clear cut as that but in essence, I suppose you're right." He nodded. "If two wizards, or witches, were in disagreement, then it's likely their wands would not work properly in the other's hand."

Sirius muttered something to the Ravenclaw boy on his right who gave a muffled hoot of laughter. Floyd did not miss this.

"Would you care to share with the class, Mr-"

"Black. Sirius." Sirius told him before he could check the register. "And no thank you."

Mr Floyd blinked, he had not expected this response. Lily sighed audibly, she wondered if Greenacre had warned him about Black and his ilk before she left.

"Well Mr Black, if you'd like to deprive us of the joke, I can take five points away from Gryffindor.."

The threat hung in the air. Lily could visualise the rubies in the hour glass hovering between the red bottom and the empty glass top.

"Fine." Sirius said finally, his voice empty of it's usual bite. "I said, like Evans and James."

Despite herself, Lily blushed and her eyes darted to James Potter, who was glaring at his friend.

"Could you please explain?" Floyd asked.

"If two wands won't work well for the other person if two people don't get along then Lily Evans and James Potter's wands definitely won't work for each other." Sirius explained, he was going red himself under James's furious stare.

"An interesting observation," Floyd said quietly, his annoyance quite forgotten. "Mr Potter, Miss Evans, would you mind being our test subjects?"

Reluctantly, Lily stood up out of her seat and walked a few steps to the front of the class. James Potter walked towards her, his eyes fixed on something over her right shoulder.

"Now, can you each perform a simple spell with your own wands?" Floyd asked them politely.

Feeling her palms sweat with pressure, Lily pointed her wand at the desk in front of her, where Gwen sat with Dennis Carmichael. " _Wingardium Leviosa!"_ She gave her wand a swish and flick and Gwen's quill began to fly off the desk. Floyd nodded in approval. "Mr Potter?"

James narrowed his eyes at Sirius. " _Diffindo!"_ Sirius's tie was sliced off in one smooth movement as though cut with invisible scissors.

The class laughed, even Sirius joined in, picking the other half of his tie up from his lap and repairing it with a lazy flick of his wand.

Floyd did not reprimand him, he just nodded vaguely. "Very good, now please swap wands."

James and Lily made uneasy eye contact. James held out his wand first which Lily took gingerly, giving up her own with regret. She instantly felt the difference. Her wand felt like an extension of her arm, natural and powerful. James Potter's wand felt like wearing your shoes on the wrong feet. Though it was an equal size to hers, it somehow felt heavier. She watched James on her right, who looked like he was experiencing a similar sensation with her wand.

"Now, can you try your spells for me again please?"

James lifted Lily's wand and pointed it once again at Sirius but Floyd intervened. "I think to avoid any unnecessary injuries you should aim the wand away from your friend's throat when perfuming a severing spell." The class tittered and James smiled. Floyd offered him a piece of parchment which James held steadily in his left hand.

" _Diffindo!_ " He said again, pointing to the parchment. The tiniest of rips appeared. James tried again and a few more centimetres tore. He blinked at it, frustrated. " _Reparo!"_ Nothing at all happened that time. James dropped the parchment and held Lily's wand very loosely.

Mr Floyd clapped. "Excellent!"

"Now Miss Evans?"

Lily pointed at Gwen's feather quill again, it levitated off the desk, perhaps not as highly when the spell was performed with her own wand but it was much more effective than Potter's severing charm.

"Fascinating." Floyd said it so quietly, Lily was sure only she and James, stood so close to him could hear. He dismissed them back to their seats and James and Lily hastily swapped their wands back and rushed back to their seats.

"Now, if you please, let's attempt to disarm our partners."

The second half of the lesson was not as interesting as the first half, though considerably more fun. By the end of it, Remus and Lily had both succeeded in disarming each other twice. Other parings had not been as lucky. Marlene hadn't been able to disarm Mary once and was in a worse temper, Pettigrew's aim was so bad he disarmed Karen rather than James and Sirius's partner missed his wand, performed the movement all wrong and managed to set Black's sleeve on fire, much to the class's amusement. Their homework was to practice.

"Excellent," Lily heard Potter say as he, Black, Remus and Pettigrew exited in front of her. "Finally, a teacher is encouraging us to duel!"

"I don't think that's what he's suggesting James," she heard Remus say quietly but Lily was sure Potter hadn't listened.

* * *

The rest of the day was not nearly as interesting as the morning. Transfiguration was marginally more difficult and history of magic considerably more boring than anyone remembered.

Marlene's bad mood persisted all day. After lunch, Mary and Lily had given up talking to her. Karen and Gwen were also being very annoying. They kept giggling, looking at Lily, hastily turning round and giggling again.

It wasn't until later, when they were back in their dormitory she understood why.

"So," Karen wiggled here dark eyebrows up and down at Lily, while Gwen watched excitedly from her own bed.

"So...?" Lily asked, getting in to her pyjamas.

"Sooo, what's going on with you and James Potter?" Karen asked eagerly.

Lily's face flushed for no reason. She was about to reply but Mary answered first.

"There's nothing going on with Lily and James, Karen." She said instantly. Lily felt a rush of gratitude.

"But what about his wand!" Karen said stubbornly, pouting. Gwen gave her a reassuring grimace.

"His wand?" Marlene spat, joining in the conversation.

"Yes, his wand!" Gwen insisted. "Lily's wand wouldn't work for James, but Lily had no problem using his!"

"I did," Lily protested. "My spell wouldn't work nearly as well as with my own wand!"

"But James's barely worked at all with yours." Gwen's eyes were twinkling, Lily didn't like what she was insinuating.

"There you go Gwen." Marlene said. She didn't sound angry anymore, but tired. "James's wand worked for Lily, but his wouldn't work for her. He fancies her, not the other way round."

Lily could feel her face getting hot. "No he doesn't!" Lily spluttered.

She looked to Mary for support but found Mary giving her an apologetic glance. "He does, Lil."

"But Potter's not nice to me!"

"Of course he's not," Gwen rolled her eyes as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you think Arthur started off being nice to me? It's how they show they like you Lily."

Gwen's patronising tone wound Lily up even more. "Well I don't fancy him!" She spat.

"Well we know that," Marlene said, giving Karen an pointed look.

"You lot are no fun." Karen said sulkily, drawing her hangings. Gwen shortly followed suit.

"I'm glad you don't fancy Potter, Lil." Marlene said in an undertone. "He's going to take the one spot on the Quidditch team for Chaser." Her voice was miserable.

"Is that what's been wrong with you?" Mary asked in an exasperated tone and Marlene nodded.

"We'll help you practice," Lily said consolingly, happy for Marlene to in a better mood.

"But you hate Quidditch," Marlene protested, getting into bed and drawing the covers up to her chest.

"But I hate Potter more." Lily smiled and Marlene joined in.

Lily lay awake that night for a long time. She was thinking about what Karen and Gwen had said and was troubled by it. Did Potter really fancy her? Her stomach squirmed. Arrogant James Potter who always had an answer for everything. He wasn't even handsome, not that it mattered because she absolutely didn't fancy him. She didn't even like him. The part of the day that troubled her the most was not Gwen and Karen laughing at her, nor the knowledge that everyone else knew that James Potter fancied her, the part that was most troubling to Lily was that his wand, while odd, did not feel completely unfriendly in her hand.


	3. Chapter 3 - That's Not Quidditch

3 - That's not Quidditch!

James

To James's delight, Quidditch trials were held on the second week of term. He, Sirius, Remus and Peter had spent all weekend practising in the grounds.

James ignored Remus's panicked moans that they had homework to do, this was far more important. There might not be another spot open on the team for years if he didn't make it this time.

James and Sirius had the newest models of brooms, they easily outstripped Remus and Peter, who were flying school brooms, leant out by Madam Hooch.

James loved being in the air. He loved feeling the wind ripping through his hair and the exhilaration of the speed, especially when he had both hands off the broom to catch the quaffle, or in this case, an old football they'd nicked from a Muggle-born first year. James felt as prepared as he possibly could be and went to sleep Sunday night feeling tired from flying and content.

Monday dragged more than usual. He just managed to correct his potion in Slughorn's class, which turned out to be very lucky as Peter was given detention for being unable to correct his. "If you'd done the reading Mr Pettigrew, you'd know what you did wrong. You'll have to correct it at 7pm tonight instead."

James thanked his lucky stars he'd done the reading properly. Or at least more thoroughly than Peter had. Bearing that in mind, he paid careful attention in Slughorn's class and kept any cheek to himself. Consequently, he had his best ever potions lesson in terms of his finished product. Slughorn even went as far as to tell him his attitude seemed to have improved.

"Pity for him it's a one time only occurrence," Sirius whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

James wolfed down dinner that evening. Trials weren't to be held to seven but he didn't want to risk being late. He would not allow anything in his power to stand between him and being Gryffindor's new chaser.

At quarter to, James, Sirius and Remus began walking down to the quidditch pitch and they were not the only ones. It seemed as though a third of Gryffindor house was there to try out or watch their friends. James was not discomforted by this. He was as good a flyer as anyone, and if people watching was to put him off, he did not deserve to be on the team.

He bid goodbye to Sirius and Remus and strode on to the pitch, his head held high.

McKinnon was a a tall, rangy fifth year with light curly hair and sharp cheek bones. His lean, angular frame made him move like a speeding dart when he was on a broomstick. James had only seem him fail to catch the snitch once last year.

He was one of only four surviving players, the rest having left school the previous year. Others on the team included chasers, Casey Burnheart, a forth year girl with vivid red hair to match her name, and McKinnon's best friend and fellow fifth year, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The remaining beater was Fabian Prewett, a ginger boy in his seventh year. James had wondered why McKinnon became captain when Prewett was the more senior player, he could only suppose it had to do with McKinnon having so much more presence. You could forget Fabian was there until he hit a belter of bludger, which was of course what made him such an effective beater.

McKinnon decided he would trial the Keeper's first. It was an agonising wait for James and his fellows, including Marlene McKinnon, whom James did not converse with. The first few Keepers were terrible, the forth was ok and the fifth was extraordinary, the sixth, seventh and eighth paled in comparison to them. It was no surprise to James when Alice Woods got the position. She dismounted on the darkening pitch with grace and gave a cheery wave to the stands, where her boyfriend Frank waved back happily.

James ground his teeth. He still hadn't forgotten the sting of the telling off Frank had given him and Sirius.

The fallen Keepers and new team member climbed the stands to watch the next trials. It was time for the Chasers to fly.

McKinnon started by asking everyone to fly on their brooms and catch the quaffle, while hovering. Three people dropped it immediately and were sent off, their broom between their legs. There were now ten hopefuls remaining, James counted quickly, including Marlene, who was hovering on the broom to his left.

Next, McKinnon asked them to catch the quaffle while moving. Shacklebolt and Burnheart glided up the pitch slowly, passing the quaffle back and forth in a zigzag, then the hopefuls had to copy them. It wasn't just easy for James, it was fun. Soon he and Burnheart weren't just gliding down the pitch, they were streaking down. James didn't miss a single catch. Others weren't as lucky and six contestants fell in that round. There was just four of them left. McKinnon's next challenge was to see who could score through the unguarded hoops. Evan Colcheck, a sixth year boy, scored once, Sally Ashton, a third year girl, scored twice. James was going last, he watched Marlene with bated breath as she scored once straight down the middle, twice as the quaffle veered to the left and just making the third, the quaffle catching on the ring as it sailed through.

James got in to position. McKinnon threw him the quaffle and James scored once quickly, twice easily, for the third, he took the shot from farther away, just to add a bit of difficulty. Even then, he still scored perfectly. James dismounted his broom with the others, grinning from ear to ear. The tryouts couldn't have gone any better. Only he and Marlene scored all three times and even then, none of James's shots had hit the ring the way Marlene's had. He was a clear choice for chaser. James looked behind him and gave Sirius and Remus a thumbs up, which they returned with big grins.

McKinnon was talking to his team. Finally they seemed to agree and he stepped forward. "Thanks for trying out everyone, we've discussed it and we think the best player for the team would be-" James had taken half a step forwards "-Marlene."

James's foot hovered in mid air. What? He thought blankly. Marlene was going to be the new chaser? He couldn't bend his mind around it. He watched her step forwards, shaking the hands of the rest of the team, her brother clapping her jovially on the shoulder. James had flown better, he'd _scored_ better. How had Marlene gotten the place and he hadn't?

Slowly, astonishment was replaced with rage. How on earth had Marlene gotten the place on the team when he had flown better? James eyes darted behind to find Sirius, who was regarding him, nonplussed. James's flickered over Mary and Lily, cheering for their friend and landed on Frank Longbottom. Now it all made sense. Longbottom and McKinnon were friends, they shared a dormitory, he will have told him all about James and Sirius's little fight with Snape and how he couldn't be trusted ...

It took all James's inner willpower to shake McKinnon's hand and not storm of the pitch shouting. He didn't stay to watch the beater tryouts. James had had more than enough quidditch for one night.

* * *

Lily

Lily hadn't been very excited to attend the quidditch trials. Mary had insisted they go to support Marlene and cheer her on, Lily knew that it was the right thing to do, she just didn't much fancy watching Marlene if she didn't get on the team. Lily and Mary made their way up into the dizzying heights of the stalls with the other spectators.

Lily chose seats at the front, where the front of the stand could barricade them, should they need to duck out of Marlene's wrath. "I feel sick." Lily told Mary in a grim voice.

Mary's grimace told Lily all she needed to know about how Mary felt.

Behind them, people were cheering and laughing. Sirius Black's voice rang out amongst them. Lily could always pick out Black's voice in a crowd, it was the poshest voice she'd ever heard, other than the Queen's. Lily turned around and saw Remus grinning, laughing at something Sirius had said. Lily gave him a wave and he grinned back, holding a thumbs up.

Mary elbowed her. "They're the enemy." She said wisely. Lily sighed and turned to face the specs of black on the green pitch. She drew her cloak tightly around her shoulders and watched. The tension of watching the prospective chasers was almost unbearable. Lily wasn't an expert on quidditch, or even flying (she preferred to keep her feet on the ground), but even she could see that James Potter was superb. It was like the broomstick was a part of him. (She even learned from Black's running commentary, that it was in fact a very good broomstick). Marlene was good, very good, but Lily and Mary silently acknowledged that she wasn't good enough. When the chaser's dismounted and the team went in to a huddle, the girls regarded each other with resigned expressions. Marlene had done very well but Potter was just better.

"She's done well." Mary said in an undertone to Lily, she barely heard her above Black and Remus's cheers. "Maybe that means she won't be in a too bad a mood."

Lily was about to reply, "fat chance," but she didn't get the words out. Before Lily could commiserate, Marlene was appointed Gryffindor's newest chaser.

"What?" Four confused voices shouted at once.

The Gryffindors celebrated their new team that night. It was the latest school night Lily had had at Hogwarts. She celebrated heartily with Marlene but Lily couldn't help but notice the atmosphere was somewhat subdued that night. The four loudest members of the house were nowhere to be seen.

Later that night, (or more accurately, early the following morning), Lily was drawing the hanging's around her bed, her eyes drooping shut.

"Knock, knock." Someone said softly. The hangings were pulled open a fraction, Lily saw a sliver of pink face and blonde curls. As soon as she saw Lily was awake, Marlene opened the hangings wider and crawled into bed with her.

"Lily?"

"Um?" Lily could barely keep her eyes open.

"Do you think I deserved to make the team?"

Lily's eyelids snapped wide open. "What makes you say that?" She asked immediately, turning to look at her friend. Marlene's brow was furrowed with worry.

"It's just," She began, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers. "Potter flew better, don't try to deny it Lil-" Marlene said, as Lily opened her mouth to contradict her. "So why did Phil let me on to the team and not him?"

Lily didn't understand much about quidditch, she told Marlene, but Phil did. He'd been made captain for a reason, he knew what he was doing.

Marlene remained unconvinced. "Maybe." She bit her lip. "And James wasn't really a good sport about it, was he?"

Lily shrugged. "He wasn't that bad. He's just disappointed."

Marlene raised her eyebrows. "Are you defending him?"

"No!" Lily exclaimed in a whisper. "I was just trying to see the other side of the - oh shut up." She said tersely, as Marlene had started laughing. "Don't you dare tell Gwen."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Would I?" She elbowed Lily in a friendly gesture. "Do you think I deserve to be on the team?"

"Yes." Lily said honestly, squeezing her arm. "Now, let's go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be awful." She yawned.

For once, Lily was wrong. Their Tuesday wasn't awful, in fact, it was one of the better days of the new term. Marlene wasn't just cheerful, she was buoyant. She answered McGonagall's questions with broad smiles, didn't complain once about homework and even offered Peter Pettigrew a spare quill when his broke in History of Magic.

The four boys, in contrast, were painfully quiet. James Potter was walking around with a face like thunder and it was clear to Lily that neither Black, Pettigrew nor Remus, knew what to do.

"What's up Lil?" Mary asked her quietly, while Marlene was busy talking to her new fellow members of the Quidditch team further up the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Nothing," Lily said innocently, but Mary regarded her shrewdly. "Nothing, really." She shot a wary glance at James Potter.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Mary uttered the words so quietly out of the corner of her mouth, Lily had to strain to hear her.

"What is?" Lily said carefully, she didn't want to be the one to say it first.

Mary glanced up and down the table. The hall was rowdy as ever. There were some forth year girls in conversation on their left and a group of seventh year boys to their right, no one would be interested in their conversation.

"It's just, well, I'm really happy Marls is on the team, _really_ happy."

"Me too." Lily said quickly, nodding along.

"And, she did fly really well,"

" _Really, really_ well,"

"But," Mary said the dangerous word Lily was thinking. "But James just seemed well -"

"I know." Lily said, saving her friend. "I feel bad for him."

"Lily!" Mary exclaimed with a laugh, "you feel sorry for-"

"Oh shush." Lily said, digging in to her dinner. "Are you saying you don't? He just looks so-"  
"Deflated, like a sad balloon."

"And it doesn't quite ..." Lily let the words trail off.

"Make sense." Mary agreed quietly.

At that moment, Marlene, shining with success looked over to them beaming. Lily and Mary waved back to her, Lily just hoped their smiles didn't look too guilty.

The rest of the week carried on in much the same fashion. Marlene was bright and shiny. She'd been to two quidditch practices now and was really getting in to being part of the team. The following Monday, Lily arrived in the common room ahead of Marlene and Mary, who were taking it in turns to hog the mirror. Many other students were milling around. There were some running down to breakfast, some running back up to finish their homework before their first lesson and some sitting in armchairs yawning, clearly wishing they were back in bed and that it was Sunday again. She waited by the entrance to the portrait hole, her eyes were glued to the door of that led to the girls' dormitory stairs and she tapped her foot impatiently. She decided she would wait five more minutes and if they still weren't ready, she'd just meet them at breakfast.

Resigned, Lily thought she may as well be comfortable while she waited, so she settled in to one of the comfortable armchairs by the fire, which the house elves had set to a low smoulder. Lily concentrated so hard on the door, willing it to open, that it wasn't until James Potter coughed that she even noticed he was in the other armchair.

Lily looked over but Potter wasn't looking at her, instead, he was scratching his quill hurriedly on to his parchment. Lily leaned over and recognised the title of the assignment, it was the essay for Binns that was due today. James clearly sensed someone looking because he glanced up from the essay to look at Lily. He gave her an odd look and then returned to his essay.

Lily had never once been within speaking distance of James Potter where he hadn't offered up some clever comment, so she was taken aback by his silence. He was also rarely alone. Lily didn't think she'd ever seen him without Sirius Black in tow, but usually he was surrounded by a crowd of people, his adoring fans, a group Lily had never been a part of but one her roommates sometimes participated in. In this armchair, catching up on late homework, James Potter looked odd. It took Lily a moment to realise what it was that was so odd about him, he looked miserable, not grumpy, not moody or petulant, really truly miserable. And what was even more startling, was that Lily found that she felt sorry for him. She felt _sorry_ for James Potter. What was the world coming to?

Potter looked up at her again. It made Lily squirm. Where on earth were Mary and Marlene? Potter was still looking at her and Lily, feeling uncomfortable thought she must say something. "I saw the Quidditch trials the other day," she garbled in a hurry. "And I thought you were really-"  
"I'm sure you did Evans." James said harshly, glaring at her. "I'm sure you and the other girls and Snivellus had a right laugh about it."

Lily didn't speak. She was shocked. She had actually tried to be nice to her and he had been so nasty! She didn't get a chance to even think of retort because he started cramming his belongings in to his bag and then abruptly stalked off. Lily was still staring at the empty armchair when Marlene shook her shoulder to tell her that they were finally ready for breakfast.

For the other girls, this was breakfast as usual. Marlene was still in very high spirits, laughing and cracking jokes, complaining good naturedly about homework. Lily, despite finding Marlene's appointment to the Quidditch team suspicious, thought she could get used to Marlene's new attitude. So much so that she didn't tell her about the James Potter incident for fear of stirring the whole thing up.

Mary, Lily and Marlene were the second group of Gryffindor girls to arrive at the table, which was already half full of tired students. Gwen and Karen were deep in conversation when the other girls sat beside them. It was unusual for Gwen and Karen to be down at breakfast before them. McGonagall had told them off for being late the day before and Lily assumed they were now building extra time in for their make up and had overestimated to be on the safe side. Lily knew the same thought process was going through Marlene's head because she shot them a disdainful look as she sat beside them.

Mary poured herself some cereal, Marlene buttered her toast and Lily sipped her pumpkin juice, going over her notes she'd made the previous night for Slughorn's lesson. Potter had flown right out of her head. He was a toe rag, she'd always known it. It was her fault for trying to be nice. So, other than that, it was a perfectly ordinary weekday morning, until quite suddenly, it wasn't.

"Lily," Karen said quietly.

"Umm?" Lily didn't look up from her reading.

"Erm, have you read the news this morning?" Gwen's voice was gentle. This made the back of Lily's neck prickle, Gwen was never gentle.

Lily raised her eyes from her potions book and settled them on two of her roommates. They didn't look like themselves, they looked ... Lily struggled to name Gwen's wide eyes and Karen's lip chewing. They looked ... nervous! That was it, nervous. But why did the look nervous?

"I - er - no, I haven't. Is there anything - is everything ok?"

Mary and Marlene were also looking at Gwen and Karen quizzically. The two of them seemed lost for words, giving each other significant looks, silently conversing.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, get on with it." Marlene snapped at them, but when they wouldn't, or couldn't, Marlene snatched the prophet, which was dangling loftily in Karen's hand.

Lily watched Marlene, waiting for the moment when she'd roll her eyes and tell Karen and Gwen what idiots they were being. Except she didn't. Marlene's face grew paler. She passed the paper to Mary, who started to scan.

Lily couldn't bear it. What was going on?

"Lily," Marlene said in an even voice. "There's been a muggle murder by magic in your home town - it's not your family." Marlene added quickly.

Lily snatched the paper out of Mary's hands and read it several times. The names registered nothing with her, it was not a family she knew. Relief swept through her and then disgust.

The room dissolved away from her. She couldn't hear Marlene saying her name until she was gripping Lily by the shoulders and marching her out of the Great Hall. People might have been looking but Lily didn't see them. They'd been so near to her mum and dad and Tuney. What were they doing there? They could go back! Lily's family could be next.

Lily didn't register anything going on around her. All she was aware of was Marlene's hand and her own moving feet. The corridors and stairs blurred.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Lily heard Marlene call when they had stopped. Lily was still processing all the potential horrors of dark wizards in her own neighbourhood when a goblet was forced into her hand and warm potion was trickling down her throat and then suddenly, all the imagined horrors disappeared and she felt the enveloping hug of calm.

Lily walked into her potions class half an hour late. Madam Pomfrey hadn't wanted her to go but Lily had insisted that it would make her feel better.

Slughorn didn't make a fuss about her arrival. Lily was grateful, she assumed Marlene or Mary had explained what had happened. She took her place beside Severus at the front as usual. The classroom was quiet of talk but busy, so she just about went unnoticed.

"I saw the news." Severus said quietly, he didn't look at her, he concentrated on chopping his ingredients in to even pieces. She appreciated his discretion. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No," Lily said truthfully, randomly getting out ingredients that had nothing to do with the potion they were supposed to be making. "Are you?"

"No." Lily saw him out of the corner of her eye, Severus's mouth twitched as though he were trying not to smile.

"Do you think they were targeting a wizarding family and the muggle family were just casualties or -" and this was the part Lily truly struggled with, "do you think it was just random?"

She was looking at him properly now and even though she was whispering, she demanded an answer. Severus's face froze and Lily had her answer. The potion Madam Pomfrey had given her was still in effect so Lily's body didn't contract in fear, just her mind. Lily didn't say any more about it. She took in the instructions on the board and did the best she could with the limited time allotted to her. Her concentration being what it was, she didn't achieve much.

With ten minutes to go until the bell, Lily looked up and caught Severus looking at her with an expression that wanted to offer comfort but lacked any of the words in order to do so. The potion was ebbing and Lily's feelings were coming back in confused bursts. So she laughed. "I'm sorry Sev," she said, clapping her hand over her mouth. "Madam Pomfrey's given me something because I felt so ill this morning and it's -" she giggled again. What was wrong with her?

Severus smiled back at her and told her he understood.

Lily glanced nervously round the room, aware of the presence of other people for the first time that lesson. She caught James Potter's eye as she drew her hand away from her mouth, still grinning awkwardly. He surveyed her for a heartbeat longer and then abruptly withdrew, tilting his head to whisper something to Sirius Black, who was working on the table next to him.

Lily turned back to Severus. "Have you sent an owl to your mum?"

He shook his head. "Later. Have you sent anything to your parents?"

Lily shook her head as well. She'd thought about the letter she'd need to write later and didn't know what to say or where to start saying it. "I'm worried all it will do is scare them. Is this," she lowered her voice, "is this part of what you were telling me? The kind of wizards who don't like muggle born witches and wizards?"

"Maybe," Severus said, but to Lily it sounded more like a yes. "Want to know something horrible?" Severus asked, his voice a silky whisper.

Lily wasn't sure that she did but she didn't stop him. She stirred her cauldron, watching it turn the wrong shade of purple.

"When I read it, I thought, why couldn't it have been him?"

Lily didn't need to ask who 'him' was. She knew perfectly well this was Severus's father. She looked at him sideways and he gave her a guilty expression. She had another giggle fit. It was sick and horrible. What was this potion doing to her?

"I'm sorry," Lily said earnestly, her lip still trembling. "It's not funny, I don't think it's funny."

"It's ok Lil," Severus said with a half smile. His eyes flicked over the room to Potter and Black. Lily's followed. Slughorn was stood with them, explaining something quietly with wild hand movements. She rolled her eyes at Severus who smiled more warmly.

The bell rang signalling the end of lesson. Slughorn hurried over to Lily's desk and asked her if she was alright. Severus stalked off, his next lesson being on the other side of the castle. Lily assured the professor that she was as ok as could be expected and yes she really would call on him if she needed anything. She _promised_. And with that, Slughorn's anxious expression disappeared and he was back to looking his larger than life self. Lily hurried from the room before he could start talking about something else and make her late for her next class.

She'd only taken two steps outside the potions classroom when she saw it. James Potter and Severus duelling. A jet of light exploded from Potter's wand, but before she could even withdraw her own wand, Potter's spell soared over Severus's head, hit a suit of armour and bounced back at him, knocking him out cold. Black hurried over, felt James's pulse and groaned. He looked up at Lily, exasperated. "Can you ask Slughorn to help me get him to Madam Pomfrey?"

Lily didn't move. She looked at the pair of them with disgust. "Are you ok?" She asked Severus who shrugged, clearly trying not to smile.

"Please Evans?" Sirius barked at her.

"Fine. Go to your next class Severus, I'll see you at dinner." Lily stomped back into the classroom and cursed Potter for make a terrible day even worse.

* * *

James

James woke up in the hospital wing with a splitting head ache. He didn't know where he was at first, and then, when he remembered, he had no idea how he'd gotten there. There were only two occupied beds in the hospital wing. A Ravenclaw girl he didn't know and another bed with the curtains surrounding it drawn. James wondered if it was Remus, his illness was upon him again and he was missing classes. James was just drawing his feet out of bed to go and see when Madam Pomfrey swept in. She looked furious.

"Ah Potter, you're awake." She said with a click of her tongue.

"Yes, feeling much better!" James said as quickly and as brightly as he could, hoping beyond hope that he'd be able to talk himself out of trouble. He found that it was always safer to assume you were in trouble, he'd just have to ask Sirius about why he was in trouble later. "I was just going to go back to lessons, don't want to miss out on homework."

Madam Pomfrey's gaze was enough to make him drawn his feet back on to the bed. "It's nearly four o clock, Potter. Lessons are almost done."

"Done?" James said blankly, he could have sworn it was the morning. His head throbbed again and he touched it mindlessly.

"Yes." Madam Pomfrey said regarding his hand. "You're not going anywhere, you've got a nasty mark on your head. That jinx doesn't react at all well with silver. So you'll stay here until it's gone."

"What jinx?" James said blankly.

Madam Pomfrey regarded him imperiously. James presumed she thought he was trying to be funny, but something about his blank face made her expression change from stern to quizzical.

"Potter, what's the last thing you remember?"

James was about to reply and then realised his mind was ... well not blank, but unclear. He could remember arriving at Hogwarts, Frank Longbottom shouting at him, the awful Quidditch tryouts... No that had been a while ago. James felt certain time had passed. He had a vague picture of Lily Evans in his mind, but he always had a picture of Lily Evans in his mind, that probably wasn't a memory ... although he had the feeling they'd had a conversation ...

James rubbed his head in his hands and then winced when they touched his sore head. "I don't know." He finally admitted.

Madam Pomfrey looked more annoyed than sympathetic about this. "Right, well, there's absolutely no way you're leaving until you do know." She said haughtily. She flicked her wand sharply and James flinched. A silver shape had flown out the end of it and raced out of the room.

"What was that?" James asked, amazed.

"A message for the headmaster." Madam Pomfrey replied grimly. "There's not a great deal of point in him coming to talk to you if you can't remember why you're here. He'll have to wait."

James grimaced. So he definitely was in trouble.

"Are you hungry Potter?"

James hadn't thought so, but at her words his stomach growled. She waved her wand again and some sandwiches and pumpkin juice materialised on the tray of his bed. James scrambled to them and ate ravenously, he swigged the pumpkin juice down in one and then oddly, his felt very heavy. It was like the lazy content feeling when your stomach was very full after a satisfying meal, except that this was more intense. He looked for Madam Pomfrey to ask her what was going on but he felt his body slump back and his eyes closed as he was dragged, against his will, back to sleep.

When James next awoke it was dark outside and the candles were lit. He had no idea what time it was. All of his senses had left him and his memory was even more muddled. His head felt better though, surely that was a good sign?

Madam Pomfrey was at the other end of the room by the door. "He's not awake!" She heard her insist. "If you come back tomorrow, Mr Black, then -"

"I am awake!" James called, startled to activity by the name.

Madam Pomfrey threw him a withering look over her shoulder. "Very well." She said with a heavy sigh and opened the door enough for Sirius to trot in to the room.

James sat up properly in bed and Sirius took the chair next to him.

"So," James said eagerly, his voice a whisper.

"So." Sirius replied grumpily. "It was embarrassing James! What made you do it? You made yourself look like a right prat! Slughorn's furious and if he's furious then McGonagall's going to be something else."

James's stomach swooped uncomfortably. "What happened?"

"I wanted you to tell me!" Sirius said angrily. His usually pale face had reddened. "I know you're upset about the quidditch but you can't keep-"

"No, Sirius!" James interrupted him. "Really, can you tell me what happened? I don't remember."

Sirius's eyes widened. "Merlin, what jinx did you - oh right yeah. Your head looks a mess, maybe it addled your brains."

"Sirius-" James said in a low voice, trying to argue.

"Yes, right. Well, we were in potions this morning, do you remember that?"

Now Sirius had said it, something familiar was stirring in James's head. They'd been at their new table at the front, one table separating them from Lily and Snape. Lily had been late to class.

"Yes!" James said triumphantly, nodding his head. "Keep going."

"So, we were in potions and you were talking about Evans and Snape. And you were in a foul mood James, _really_ foul. Then the bell rang and Evans hung back to speak to Slughorn and you followed Snape out and you asked him what he'd been laughing at and he looked at you with his Snivellus face and then you jinxed him."

James squirmed uncomfortably as the story registered some familiarity.

"But if I jinxed him, how have I ended up in here?" He asked blankly.

"Because the slimy git ducked and your jinx bounced off a suit of armour and hit you in the face." Sirius shook his head. "Like I said, you looked like a right prat."

James covered his hands in face. "For Merlin's sake." He poked his eyes out to look at Sirius. He looked exasperated. "My mum's going to kill me."

"I think she might have to get in line." Sirius said glumly. "I'm pretty sure those footsteps belong to McGonagall."

Sure enough, Sirius's ears prevailed and their head of house was the next person to walk in to the hospital wing. Sirius gave him one last withering look before departing and wished him luck.

As Sirius swept past her, keeping his eyes down. James's dread mounted. Sirius was right, words hadn't been invented yet for how mad their head of house was.

As McGonagall told him he'd brought shame to Gryffindor house like she'd never known, James's memories started flooding back in earnest and in what mostly felt like the correct order.

Sirius and Peter had gone to the Great Hall without him that morning. He'd still been in a foul mood about quidditch and they were giving him a wide berth. He'd decided to stay in the common room and finish the History of Magic essay which had been due that afternoon. He was almost done when Lily Evans had sat across from him on the other armchair. He caught her looking at him, pitying him. He remembered feeling enraged, who was she to pity him? Lily Evans loved to pity things, that was the only way James could make sense of her friendship with Severus Snape. They didn't speak to one another at first and then he looked up again and she'd started to say she was sorry about the quidditch. James couldn't take it. It didn't matter that this might have been the nicest thing Evans had ever said to him. He cut her down and stormed off. He knew he'd hurt her feelings. As soon as he was three corridors down from Gryffindor tower he felt full of remorse and resolved that he would, that he must, apologise to her. James skipped breakfast and began legging it back up to the common room but Lily must have taken a different route down to breakfast, because when he finally got back to the almost empty common room, she was gone.

She wasn't in potions either. James took his seat next to Sirius and began following the instructions on the board, looking over his shoulder every few minutes. He hadn't thought he'd upset her this much. He'd always thought Lily Evans had been made of sterner stuff than that, it was one of the things he most liked about her.

She appeared half way through class. Slughorn didn't mention a thing, James thought it was very unfair, he was sure that Slughorn would have something to say if he or Sirius were half an hour late to a class.

Lily and Snape spent the rest of the class talking in hushed voices. James was craning his neck, trying to listen.

"What are you doing?" Sirius hissed at him after the third time he'd looked.

"I was just-" James didn't have an answer. "Nothing." He huffed.

And then he heard a giggle. James eyes flew back over to Lily without his permission. She looked at him, covered her mouth and turned back to Snape, still laughing. James felt white hot with rage. She'd told Snape about their argument this morning and now they were both laughing at him.

He ground his teeth. Sirius looked like he was going to say something a few times but never quite worked himself up to it. He just carried on with his potion, resigned. In fact, Sirius had been so quiet and worked so diligently that Slughorn actually complimented his potion at the end of the class. James even felt betrayed by that.

When the bell rung, James didn't rush off like everyone else. He dawdled, moving slower even though he felt Sirius's impatient eyes on him. Slughorn cornered Lily, so James flew out of the classroom and cornered Snape.

"Think it's funny do you Snivellus?" James said seethingly.

"James what are you -" Sirius began incredulously but James ignored him, pushed him out of the way as he withdrew his wand.

"What are you talking about Potter?" Snape said with a sneer. It made James madder.

"You know very well what I'm talking about!" James snapped.

"Put it away!" Sirius exclaimed trying to wrench the wand out of James's hand but he threw him off. Snape was going for his own wand but James got there first, he shot the first jinx that came to his head, took in Snape's shocked face ducking down and then James's registered his own misfortune as that flash of blue light came right back at him, hitting him in the head.

James groaned at the memories. It came at the right time in McGonagall's speech, she looked suitably approving of his remorse. "And I hope you think about this the next time you decide to jinx people in the corridors, Potter." She finished, her mouth still tight with rage. "Please report directly to me once you have been discharged from here and we will discuss your punishment."

James didn't argue that cursing himself was punishment enough. He just nodded glumly.

He understood why Sirius was so mad. He was right, it was horribly embarrassing. Peter wouldn't think too much of it but he could only imagine the look Remus was going to give him when he - Remus! James thought again, looking at the closed curtain. When he was certain that McGonagall had gone and Madam Pomfrey was safely in her office, he crept out of bed and raised a hand to the white curtain. He peered very carefully inside it, but he may as well have not bothered. The bed was empty.

James took a step back, confused. It was possible Remus had gone back to the dormitory while he had been sleeping but if so, he thought he would have come with Sirius to reprimand him. James scratched his head, it still hurt.

He went to the window and looked out into the grounds. The hospital wing had a wonderful view of the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut. James's eyes had just skated over the pumpkin patch when he noticed a dark figure, just barely visible illuminated by the moonlight. In fact, if it hadn't been a full moon, James may have not seen them at all. They were walking very fast in to the forbidden forest. James continued watching, lost in thought, even after the figure had disappeared into the thick cover of the trees. James knew Hagrid sometimes went in the forest but the figure was no where near big enough to be him. He might have been far away but James could tell this person was not Hagrid's size. It was all very strange. James wondered for a mad moment if the person could have been Remus, but no, he was certain the figure was taller. An adult or a seventh year. James walked back to his bed, which was bathed in the moonlight streaming in from the windows. He'd put one foot on his bed when a new thought about Remus struck him. At first it seemed like madness but then, perhaps, the dates just fitted.


End file.
